180 military, security personnel to slug it out in unity marathon

Molly Kilete, Abuja

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has concluded arrangements to hold the  second edition of the Armed Forces and Security Half Marathon Championship aimed at  reducing the incessant rivalry among military, police, security and paramilitary agencies in the country.

The event schedule to hold this Saturday, in Abuja, will have a total of 180 participants drawn from the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Civil Defence, Federal Road Safety Corps among others who will be competing for prizes during the championship.

Chairman of the inter-agency competition, Maj.Gen. Davies, at a media briefing held at the DHQ, in Abuja, said participants were carefully chosen from among the young cadre, to promote unity and bonding.

Said he, “The purpose of the event was to unite all members of the Nigerian Armed Forces and security agencies to have strong cohesion amongst ourselves in other to gave the internal security challenges that our country is currently facing”.

“The essence of the competition, as it is even today, is to get a firm unity amongst us, because we are all serving the same purpose and as a result of that, this affords us a lot of opportunity to meet and not just compete amongst ourselves but to have an interaction amongst the rank and file of the armed forces and security organisation.

“Those who are participating are in the younger echelon of the service and agency, and it also afford them the opportunity to interact and know themselves.

“This, we believe,  will ease the tension that is faced most times as we are aware of the clashes we have between lower ranks all over the country.

“As this continues we hope this unique identity which we have formed from this competition will enhance our unity and togetherness.

“All arrangements have been made with regards to security. We have been able to plan both editions to meet world standard the assistance with the athletics federation of Nigeria.

We expect 180 participants .10 male of each organization and 8 female. We have over 11 participating organization.  In total we have over 180 participating organisations.”